59
Charlemagne 'Father of Europe': A European
Icon in the Making
Marianne Ailes
University ofBristol
'The greatest and most distinguished of men'.
(Einhard, Vita KarolI)'
Along with the legendary King Arthur and the crusading conqueror ofJerusalem,
Godefroy of Bouillon, Charlemagne was one of the three secular 'chivalric'
Worthies of the later Middle Ages. Arthur and Charlemagne shared the status of
legendary Christian kings belonging to a pervious age, but there were major
differences between them. For Charlemagne, unlike Arthur, we have a Significant
body of factual evidence, documents and chronicles, and, even though some of it
must be treated with great care, this gives us considerable knowledge of the
emperor's deeds and reputation.' Secondly, whereas Arthur has a particular
association with Britain, Charlemagne was 'emperor of Europe'. At his death in
814, the Emperor Charlemagne ruled over much of what we now call France,
Germany, the Low Countries and modern Italy. As his myth developed he
became associated with an even more extensive community. that of a united
Christendom.
Given the extraordinary achievements of the man Charlemagne, it is not
surprising that we find him being celebrated heroically. Within his own lifetime
the anonymous poet of Karolus et Leo Papa, otherwise known as the 'Paderborn
Epic', gave him the epithet 'Rex, pater Europae; 'King and Father of Europe'.' The
anonymous poet was not the only contemporary to write about Charlemagne,' but
in this phrase he encapsulated an idea that has since grown wings, in recent
decades being appropriated by the European Community: the Charlemagne
Reading Medieval Studies, 38 (2012): 59-76
60 Ailes
Building in Brussels houses offices of the European community; the annual
Karlspreis is awarded for services to the unity of Europe; there is even a
newspaper column about the European Union named after the emperor.' While
the phrase itself, 'Father of Europe', may owe more to the Latin education of its
writer than to any sense of ,Europe' as a polity in the ninth century, it still suggests
a ruler whose reputation had already created a sense of unity which would extend
beyond the identity of a single people.
The process of myth-making was not restricted to one context or one kind
of writing; it begins with contemporary Latin material, and is developed and
disseminated in both Latin and vernacular languages. Any analysis of the making
of this image of Charlemagne as 'father of Europe' therefore needs to encompass
both Latin and vernacular." 'Throughout the Middle Ages Charlemagne was a
central figure (even if not always depicted positively), in the literature of cultures
from Iceland to Italy and from Ireland to Eastern Europe. Although he had not
ruled this entire that area he was nonetheless celebrated; tales were told about
him and statues representing him were erected. 7 He is not, however, treated in the
same way in each language and literature of Europe. He is at once a symbol of a
united Europe and at the same time is represented differently across different
linguistic cultures and/or geographical areas.' This article will examine his
presentation as a symbol of a united Europe, or Christe'!dom, with regard to his
particular appropriation in France and wider francophone culture thus
acknowledging that literature in French plays a particular role in the
development of the myth of Charlemagne. This presentation will be explored
through early Latin accounts of Charlemagne and the earliest vernacular texts
extant, early chansons de geste and the related Pseudo-Turpin Chronide.
The historical figure of Charlemagne was ideal material for mythmaking: his coronation by the Pope on Christmas Day 800 united the sacral and
royal functions, which have been observed as together making up the sovereign;9
he was a successful military leader; under his reign a European wide trade system
developed;1O his private life was complex and would not have satisfied later
medieval notions of a good example, but, nonetheless, love, marriages and heroic
offspring fit well into medieval myth. l l In the mythical developments of
Charlemagne's life it was his nephew, Roland, who showed greatest heroism. '2
Charlemagne's son is less heroic and often presented in a relatively negative way
in the vernacular narratives, but this only seems to highlight Charlemagne'S
qualities by contrast
Charlemagne 'Father of Europe' 61
Whatever date is ascribed to the anonymous Paderborn Epic quoted
above, and whoever wrote it, most scholars agree that it must have been composed
before 804, so around the time Charlemagne was being made Emperor." The epic
poet not only describes him as 'Father of Europe', but also refers to him as 'father
Charles'." If, as Janet Nelson has suggested, the role of a Frankish ruler was like
that of a father over his household, then the idea that Charles was 'father', 'patet,
to all the peoples under his rule makes complete sense. 1S For the Paderborn poet
Europe existed as an entity known from Classical writings; Charlemagne brought
it together as a family.
Einhard's Vita Karoli is the best known early account of Charlemagne's
life and reign. It was widely known in the Middle Ages and was instrumental in
the spread of his legend and the attribution of that other epithet - magnus - to the
emperor, an epithet which, as David Ganz notes, 'posterity had no hesitation in
adopting'.l6 As an eye·witness account of the court, Einhard's work is invaluable,
though it is, in Nelson's words, 'a gift to a modem biographer that comes with
health warning'. 17
When, in 768, Charlemagne and Carloman succeeded as joint heirs to
their father's kingdom it was, as was customary, divided between them.lB Their
joint rule, however, lasted less than three years and Einhard tells us that on
Carloman's death:
Karolus autem fratre defuncto consensu omnium Francorum rex
constituitur. 19
Thus Charlemagne's first act as a 'unifier' in Europe was to re-unite the Franks as
one. Einhard thereafter concentrates on how he doubled the extent of his
kingdom and made allies beyond its borders. He is again depicted as one who
brings people together, specifically bringing them together as Christians, when
Einhard writes, at the conclusion of the long wars against the Saxons, of the
conditions placed on the defeated Saxons:
Eaque conditione a rege proposita et ab illis suscepta tractum per
tot annos bellum constat esse fmitum, ut, abiecto daemonum
cultu et relictis patriis caerimoniis, Christianae fidei atque
religionis sacramenta susciperent et Francis adunati unus cum eis
62 Ailes
populus efficerentur. 20
This is not just any kind of unity, but sharing the Christian faith was to make
them 'one people'.
A generation after Einhard the chronicler Nithard, writing c844, stressed
that Charlemagne had united Barbarian and Frank. For Nithard, writing during
the struggle between the deceased emperor's three surviving grandsons,
Charlemagne was already something of an icon for having brought unity, and he
wrote about him in glowing tenns:
Karolus bonae memoriae, et merito Magnus, imperator ab
universis nationibus vocatus ... in senectute bona decedens,
omnem Europam omni bonitate repletam reliquit21
The image he presented was of Frank and Barbarian united as one under the
benign and happy rule of Charlemagne, though the nostalgic longing for unity
probably had more to do with the politics of the middle of the ninth century than
the reality of a bygone age under
Charlemagne's rule:
Nam super omne quod admirabile fateor fore, Francorum
Barbarorumque ferocia ac ferrea corda, quae nec Romana
potentia domare valuit, hie solus moderato [Col.0046B] terrore ita
repressit, ut nihil in imperio moliri praeter quod publicae utilitati
congruebat, manifeste auderent. Regnavit feliciter per annos duos
et triginta, imperii que gubernacula nihilominus cum omni
felicitate per annos quatuordecim possedit.22
Placing Frank and Barbarian next to each other, Francorum Barbarorumque,
Nithard stresses this unity in the syntax of his sentence.
At the very end of his account Nithard stresses again the unity of the
people under Charlemagne, but this time he adds another dimension as he writes
of the people walking together 'in the way of the Lord':
Nam temporibus bonae recordationis Magni Karoli, qui evoluto
jam pene anno
Charlemagne 'Father of Europe' 63
tricesimo decessit, quoniam hie populus unam eamdemque
rectam, ac per hoc viam Domini publicam incedebat, pax ilIis
atque [CoI.O076D] concordia ubique erat."
We see here a myth in formation, Charlemagne, known as conqueror, achieves
this status by also being presented as an agent of God, an aspect of his mythic
identity that was to be enhanced in the early vernacular texts; he combines the
sacral, the royal and the military. Nithard, grandson of Charlemagne, writing at
the time of the division of the Empire, obviously had his own agenda, but within
that context the association of Charlemagne with unity is clear. 24
Notker the stammerer, a monk of St Gall, drew largely on Einhard's Vl'ta
for his Gesta Karoli Magro, and, like the anonymous poet of the Paderborn epic,
uses the term 'Europe', apparently as equivalent to 'Empire'.25 Describing the
building of a great bridge at Mainz, Notker wrote of men of different peoples
working together in seeming harmony:
quem tota Europa communi
participationis opera perfecit. 26
quidem
sed
ordinatissime
Later he describes the reception at court of a group of Persians along with the
'nobles of Europe and of the Frankish Empire'." What is not clear is whether this
is a rhetorical binomial and the two terms 'Europe' and 'Empire' are two
expressions of the same concept, or whether they are supposed to be distinct. For
Notker, it seems, the idea of 'Frankishness' was inherently broader than a single
ethnic group:
Franciam vero interdum cum nominavero, omnes cisalpinas
provincias significo, quia .. .in ilIo tempore propter excellentiam
gloriossimi Karoli et Galli et Aquitani, Edui et Hispania,
Alemanni et Baiorii non porum se insignitos gloriabontur, si vel
nominee Francorum servum censeri mererentur. 28
It seems that Frankishness was inclusive, not defined by otherness, and implied
being part of a larger entity than one's own people.'" It is specifically 'the fame
and glory of Charlemagne' which has brought about this condition of unity.
64 Ailes
The emphasis in these early Latin texts is on Charlemagne bringing
unity; they addressed a particular textual community, a trans-national community
that was Latin-literate. The myth of Charlemagne was to spread even more widely
through the francophone world, in texts, narratives and songs which would be
known by both the learned and illiterate, in church and at court and for all those
who listened to the songs of entertainers. 30 From the earliest chansons de geste
Charlemagne was transformed into a summation of French I Frankish monarchs,
in particular bringing together the different kings who bore the name Charles:
Charles Martel, Charles the Bald and Charlemagne."
The best known of the chansons de geste was in the Middle Ages, and
remains now, La Chanson de Roland The narrative of the battle of Roncevaux
spread across Europe. The oldest extant version is that known as the 'Oxford
Roland which survives in an AnglO-Norman manuscript in which Charlemagne's
territory is expanded to include England:'1
"
... Merveilus hom est Charles
Ki cunquist Puille et trestute Calabre
Vers Engleterre passat ilIa mer salse (II. 370 - 72)."
Later in the text Roland lists England among the lands. he has conquered for
Charlemagne, as well as Scotland and Ireland (or Iceland depending on how the
text is read).'" The lands over which Charlemagne has control have been
extended beyond the limits of the historical Carolingian Empire, allOwing the
Roland text, copied in England, to have the reading' nostre emperere magnes,
'our great emperor' (I. 1).
The precise make·up of the group known as the twelve peers, who are
among the most important Franks, varies from text to text, and some of
Charlemagne's closest advisors are not included in their number in the earliest
texts, but they were from the beginning an 'international' grouping." The Oxford
Roland features Nairoon of Bavaria, Richard of Normandy and Ogier Ie Danois
among the barons, but not among the twelve peers, though later texts do include
them. Girart de Roussillon is among the twelve in the Oxford Roland; later texts
also include Guy of Burgundy."" In literature at least, the men closest to
Charlemagne seem to embody this idea of the unity of Christendom. There is
also an echo of historical reality; when in 778 Charlemagne went in to Spain in
response to an appeal from aI-Arabi, the Muslim governor of Barcelona, the event
Charlemagne 'Father of Europe' 65
which was the historical basis of La Chanson de Roland, it was with 'an army of
men from Burgundy, Austrasia, Provence and Septimania, as well as a contingent
of Lombards'." Similarly, early in the very popular twelfth-century chanson de
geste Aspremont, Naimon addresses Charlemagne as ruler over
men from six kingdoms:
"De .vi. reaumes sont ci Ii chevalier.
.vi. rais vos servent, que nus n'en fait dongier" (II. 55_56)38
The Norman conquests of divers lands and what Robert Bartlett has called
the 'aristocratic diaspora' contributed to a widespread francophone culture of
which the matter of Charlemagne was part." The Latin histories and French epic
songs both presented this unifYing image of Charlemagne, but Latin and
vernacular cultures did not just sit side. by side. The interaction between them can
be seen clearly in one particular text. The twelfth-century Pseudo-Turpin
Chronide was written in Latin; it is presented as an account of Charlemagne'S
wars in Spain, set within a religiOUS context in that the apostle James orders s the
author- persona that the account must be written. But the material is taken from
the vernacular chansons de geste; the narratives of the battles of Roncevaux from
the Roland tradition, and the near-conversion of the pagan Agoland, as related in
Aspremont, are key parts of the story which presents ifself as an account written
by the Archbishop Turpin who, rather than being killed at Roncevaux, as the
chanson de geste relates, survived to, literally, 'tell the tale'. The text thus
undermines the narrative it draws upon. The Pseudo-TuIpin was very successful
and circulated widely in both Latin and French. It is found in monastic libraries in
England in both languages, and indeed this mythic account is found more
frequently than the (in modern terms) 'real' chronicle by Einhard.
Charlemagne's myth was thus spread across Europe. Transformed into
something even greater than his historical significance, Charlemagne was at the
same time, given a specific national significance in France.... As Charlemagne has
since become more associated with Germany there now seems some irony in the
use of this Frankish emperor as a symbol of the French nation, particularly in
times of tension with Germany. In the nineteenth century La Chanson de Roland
was seen as the 'emanation of France's national spirit' and used by scholars 'to find
a source of unity and national pride for their country'." In the two centuries
immediately following Charlemagne's death it does seem that he was adopted
66 Ailes
more by the East Frankians, but by the eleventh century the Capetians are being
linked to their Carolingian antecedents;" this is most clearly seen with those
rulers who work most closely with the Abbots of Saint Denis. The association of
the Carolingians with St Denis undoubtedly facilitated the appropriation of
Charlemagne by the French. St Denis was the royal saint of the Merovingians,
taken over by the Pippinids with the crown; the Capetians were to do the same
thing in their tum, so by the time we have written chansons de geste in the twelfth
century St Denis was firmly associated with French monarchs. Some of the
Merovingian royal family were buried there; Pippin himself was buried there, as
were subsequent kings of France right down to the revolution, though
Charlemagne himself was buried at Aachen. Charlemagne and Carloman were
crowned joint kings on the feast day of St Denis on October 9th, 768." While we
associate the historical Charlemagne perhaps rather more with Aachen, recent
excavations have also revealed evidence of an eighth-century royal "palace as part
of the St Denis complex.« The transfer, in French vernacular texts, of
Charlemagne's main seat from Aachen to Paris was facilitated in part by these
historical links between both Carolingian and the later kings of France and the
Abbey of Saint Denis.
In the chanson de geste tradition Charlemagne, the. Franldsh, Germanic,
emperor was 'Ie roi de Saint Denis' as well as of Aix/Aac~en, and he ruled over
'douce france'. The actual references to St Denis in the earliest chansons de geste
are limited. In the Oxford manuscript of La Chanson de Roland we have one
reference to the place, but it is a significant one; a pagan boasts that the Saracens
will lie 'el burc de seint Denise' (1.973), implying that the occupation of Saint Denis
would symbolise the occupation of Charlemagne's territories. There is also one
reference to the saint rather than to the place: hairs of Saint Denis are among the
relics Roland carries in the pommel of his sword:
E les chevels mun seignor seint Denise (1.2347)
The use of the personal pronoun indicates that St Denis had a particular link with
the royal house of which Roland was a member. Paris itself does not figure in the
oldest version of La Chanson de Roland Charlemagne's seat is clearly at
Aix/Aachen 'in France' (1.36, 1.52, 1.135, 1.188, 1.478, 1.435, 1.726, 1.1409, 1.2556,
1.2667, 1.2860,1.2917, 1.3696, 1.3734, 1.3744, 1.3873, 1.3945, 1.3984). Aachen is even
described as 1e meillor sied de France' (1.3706). Later redactions, however, have
Charlemagne in Paris. In the Chateauroux-Venice 7 version the standard formula
1e rois de Saint Denis' becomes on one occasion 'Li rois de Paris' (1.7620), and in
Charlemagne 'Father of Europe' 67
the Lyon version Charlemagne is once described as 'Karles de Paris' (1.2601). The
move of Charlemagne's capital to Paris is thus quite a gradual one, but important
in his presentation as peculiarly ldng of France. The Rhymed Roland, represented
by these manuscripts, dates from around 1180, though the manuscripts are later; a
number of other chansons de geste from around the end of the twelfth century,
such as the Chanson de Fierabras also place Charlemagne at Paris." It does seem
that before the end of the twelfth century Charlemagne was, in the chansons de
geste, firmly fixed in Paris, the capital of the twelfth-century French kings.
Cormond et Isembart, another twelfth-century chanson de geste, has the
emperor, in this case Louis rather than Charlemagne, hold his fief directly from St
Denis, stressing the French royal family's link with the saint, as distinct from the
place.'"
The chansons de geste, while presenting Charlemagne as both emperor
and ldng, largely ignore the e,ostence of another emperor in the East. In this they
differ from the early chronicles: Einhard, for example, discusses explicitly the
an,oety the Greeks felt about Charlemagne'S coronation as emperor."
Charlemagne's function as symbol of a united Christendom might have been
undermined by this. Yet one relatively early chanson de geste does bring the
Eastern Empire into the text; the whole narrative dramatizes the tensions between
the two Empires, and personalises it as rivalry between the two emperors.'" This is
the twelfth-century Pt!lerinage de Charlemagne, which gives an ambiguous
presentation of the heroic emperor and his twelve paladins. The text opens with
Charlemagne at a crown-wearing asldng his wife to admire him. She says she has
heard of another who would compare well with him, namely Hugh, Emperor of
Constantinople. The queen's jibe leads to a journey to Jerusalem and then to
Constantinople, so that Charlemagne can compare himself to this rival emperor.
Although Charlemagne is at the receiving end of his wife's barbed
comments and the butt of some humour in the text, he is also a 'type' of Christ,
seen with his twelve peers around him, and, in case the inattentive readerflistener
has not perceived the parallel, is even mistaken by a Jew for 'God Himself with
the twelve apostles (II. 139-40). There has been some critical debate over the
presentation of Charlemagne in this text; the French scholar Dominique Boutet
offers what might provide a means of reconciling the apparent inconsistencies by
suggesting a distinction between the function of Charlemagne and his personal
qualities." Charlemagne's function, or perhaps functions, including his role in
uniting Europe, remains unimpaired regardless of whether his personal qualities
68 Ailes
inspire respect.
In the end Charlemagne the emperor arguably triumphs, but not without
the poet's mockery of Charlemagne the man on the way. 50 Symbolically
Charlemagne returns bearing many relics with which he enriches the churches of
France, and in particular, St Denis, which receives the important passion relics of
the nail and the Crown; the Western Empire gains at the expense of the Eastern
Empire. Boutet describes this transfer of relics as 'une veritable translatio
imperil.51 The translatio imperii actually permeates the whole poem; the
translation of the relics is a dramatization of this. The West overcomes the East at
every level. This is not to suggest the personal superiority of Charlemagne and
his peers, who at several points in the narrative are presented in a far from
positive manner; they fall over when a marvellous mechanism causes the
Byzantine palace to move; they make puerile boasts when drunk, and they are
forced by Hugh to try to fulfil them - yet the fact that they do' fulfil selected
boasts leaves Hugh at a disadvantage.
Although, alone of all the chansons de geste, the PeJerinage has the
potential to subvert Charlemagne's symbolic function as the head of Christendom
by insisting on the presence of the Eastern Empire, even here, by making an ally
of his rival, by defeating him symbolically in the fulfilment of the boasts made by
his peers and by bringing back from the East treasure~ for his own churches,
Charlemagne in the end has a unifYing function. Ultimately, the emperor Hugh
of Constantinople accepts that he should hold his position and his lands from
Charlemagne, and he does so explicitly because Charlemagne is 10ved by God'
(11.796-97). When the two men wear their crowns Charlemagne is symbolically
more than a foot taller than Hugh (I.S11). The Empires of East and West, whose
rivalry remained a reality, were in fiction united under Charlemagne.
These early chansons de geste also put some emphasis on Charlemagne's
peculiar relationship with God. Although Turpin formally fulfils the sacral role,
Charlemagne is presented as an instrument of God and as one who is privileged
by God, who communicates directly with him. In La Chanson de Roland God
sends Gabriel to give Charlemagne dreams, giving him words of encouragement
in combat, and performing for Charlemagne the miracle performed for Joshua in
the Old Testament, giving him time to win the battle by prolonging the day. In
the Pelerinage God enables the French to fulfil some of their boasts. Above all,
Charlemagne has the privilege of translating relics from the East to the West in
the Pelerinage, and in what could be considered a more controversial role, from
Charlemagne 'Father of Europe' 69
Rome to France in the slightly later Fierabras. In this he is an agent of God,
transferring the visible signs of God's favour.
The early vernacular tradition thus continues the focus we observed in the
Latin texts on Charlemagne as a means of bringing Christian unity, while at the
same time presenting him as 'king of France'. At the end of the twelfth century
another wtiter, also producing his text in French, the Norman chronicler
Ambroise, would use Charlemagne in a way not dissimilar to Nithard. In
Ambroise's Estoire de 18 guerre s.ainte Charlemagne is held up as a positive
exemplum, against the negative exemplum of the squabbling and dissenting
crusaders on what we now call the Third Crusade:
Quant Ii vaillant reis Charlemaines,
Qui tant conquist terres e regnes,
Ala josteier en Espaine
Ou i1 amena la preuz compaine
Qui fu vendu al roi Marsille
Par Guenelon, dont France avile;
Equant il refu en Sesoigne
Ou il fist meinte grant besoigne ...
La n' avoit estrifs ne barates,
Lores a eel tens ne anceis,
Qui erent Norman ou Franceis,
Qui Peitevin, ne ki Breton,
Qui Mansel ne ki Burgoinon,
Ne ki Flamenc, ne qui Engleis;
Hoc n'i aveit point de jangleis,
Ne point de s'entreramponoient
Mais tote honors en reportouent:
Crill erent tuit apele Franc
E brun e bai e sor e blanc,
E par pechie quant descordouent,
E Ii prince les racordouent
E erent tuit a une acorde
(11.8459 - 62, 8480 - 93).52
70 Ailes
The echo here of Paul's letter to the Galatians highlights the focus on unity in
Christ.
There is perhaps an unconscious irony in the fact that the frrst narrative evoked is
the story of the battle of Roncevaux in which Ganelon betrays the Christians, but
while irony is used elsewhere by the poet it is not unconscious, so perhaps the
treachery of Ganelon just highlights the unity of the others. They were all
'Franks' in the sense that the Christian army in the Levant were designated
'Franks'; it is here almost a synonym for 'Christian' rather than a matter of racial
identity.
The three early chansons de geste we have examined were composed
before Philip Augustus began to expand and consolidate royal power, and it is not
easy for us to understand exactly how 'France' was conceptualised by the poets.
The dual identity of Charlemagne as· emperor and king of France clearly
permitted him to be 'our' emperor in lands which were neither ruled by the king
of France nor part of the Empire, most specifically England as, like La Chanson de
Roland, the Pelerinage and Garmond et Isembart survived in Anglo-Norman
manuscripts. The myth of the unifYing emperor had become stronger than any
political reality.
It was through the francophone world that Charlemagne's legend was
largely disseminated, though it extended beyond the borders even of medieval
Francophonia. In England (never, as we have noted, part of Charlemagne's
empire) the French narratives were well known through both the chansons de
geste and the Pseudo-Turpin Chronide, circulating in Latin and in both
continental French and Anglo-Norman versions. Charlemagne, king of France
and Emperor of Christendom, thus uniting Europe, was part of the insular
franco phone heritage. This depiction of Charlemagne as a leader of Christians is
also stressed in the changes we find in Middle English translations of the Old
French chansons de geste; some of the Middle English texts change the emphasis
in their designation of Charlemagne's army, from 'French knights' or peers to
'Christian knights. 53 This very change, however, is also an indication of something
else, the different treatment of the Charlemagne myth in different parts of the
European area.
Charlemagne's myth has spread beyond the Carolingian Empire. The
vernacular tradition, and the francophone tradition in particular, presents a far
Charlemagne 'Father of Europe' 71
from homogenous picture of Charlemagne's character, but there is a consistent
picture of his function as mythologized leader ofChrlstendom.
Notes
1 Einhard, Vita Karoli Magni, in Einhard and Notker the Stammerer, Two Lives ofCharlemagne, trans.
Lewis Thorp (Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1969), p. 52; also translated by Paul Edward Dutton (ed. and
trans.), Charlemagne's Courtier The Complete Einhard, Readings in Medieval Civilisation and
Cultures II (Ontario, Broadview Press, 1998), p. 16. My research has been supported by a Standard
Research Grant from
the AHRC (www.ahrc.ac.uk) for the collaborative project 'Charlemagne in England: The Matter of
France in Middle English and Anglo-Norman Literature'.
2 Nonetheless Roger Collins commented that 'it is not really possible to write a biography of
Charlemagne', Roger Collins, Charlemagne (London, MacMillan, 1968), p. viii, quoted by Janet Nelson,
'Did Charlemagne have a private life?', in Wripng Medieval Biography Essays ~in Honour of Frank
Barlow, edited by David Bates, Julia Crick and Sarah Hamilton (Woodbridge, The Boydell Press, 2006),
pp. 15-28; Nelson outlines the challenges in writing a biography of Charlemagne (po 15). See also
idem. 'Charlemagne, the Man', in Charlemagne Empire and Society. edited by Joanna Story
(Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2005), pp. 22-27. For a recent study of Charlemagne see
Rosamund McKitterick, Charlemagne: The Formation ofa European Identity (Cambridge, Cambridge
University Press, 2008). A brief overview of documents relating to his reign is given in Collins,
Charlemagne, pp. 1-15; a more detailed analysis is found in McKitterick, Charlemagne, pp.1-56.
3 Edited by Franz Brunh61z1 in Karolus magnus et Leone Papa: ein Paderborner Epos YOm Jahre 799,
edited by Helmut Beumann, Franz Brunh6lzl and Wilhelp Winke:tn1ann (Paderborn, 1966), 1.505; an
older edition is available in the Monumenta Germaniae Historica series, Karolus magnus et Leone
papa, edited by E. Dummler, MGH poet I, (Berlin, 1881), pp. 366·79, 1. 505; an English translation of
excerpts from the text is found in Paul Edward Dutton (ed.) Carolinigan Civilisation: A Reader
(Ontario, Broadview Press, 1993), pp. 55·57.
4 McKitterick, Charlemagne, pp. 13942.
5 http://www.karlspreis.de. accessed 23 September 2011; The Economist has a column on European
politics named after Charlemagne and an associated blog 'Charlemagne's notebook',
http://www.economist.com. accessed 23 September 2011.
6 See Matthew Gabriele and Jace Stuckey (eds), The Legend ofCharlemagne in the Middle Ages Power;
Faith and Crusade, The New Middle Ages series (New York, Palgrave MacMillan, 2008), pp.1.5 and p. 7
on the need to work across languages and literary traditions.
7 For a study of the art surrounding Charlemagne's most famous warrior see Rita Lejeune and Jacques
Stiennon, La Legende de Roland dans l'art du moyen age, 2 vols (Brussels, Editions de I'Arcade, 1966);
on representations of the Matter of France in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe see pp. 361-63.
8 This appropriation is the subject of a major project 'Charlemagne: A European Icon' aiming to
publish a series of volumes on Charlemagne in the different cultures of Europe. This has grown out of
the AHRC funded collaborative project on the 'Matter of France in Medieval England'; see n.1 above.
The volumes are to be published by Boydell and Brewer in the Bristol Studies in Medieval Cultures
series. Among studies of the legend of Charlemagne in different cultures see Robert Folz, Le Souvenir
72 Ailes
et la Jegende de Charlemagne dans l'Empire germanique medieval (Paris, Les belles Lettres, 1950) for
Germany; Karen Pratt (ed), Roland and Charlemagne in Europe: Essays on the reception and
transformation of a Legend, King's College London Medieval Studies, XII (London, King's College.
1966); on the Middle Dutch reception of Charlemagne see various publications by Bart Besamusca,
including Repertonum van de MiddelnederlandsenKarelepiek een beknopte beschrijving van de
handschrifteJijke en gedrukte overleveniJg(Utrecht, Hes & de Graaf, 1983); Bart Besarnusca and Evert
van den Berg, 'Middle Dutch Charlemagne Romances and the Oral Tradition of the chansons de geste,
in Medieval Dutch Literature in its European Context, ed Erik Kooper (Cambridge, Cambridge
University Press, 2006), pp. 81-95. For a broad coverage of the different appropriations of Charlemagne
see also Bernd Bastert (cd), Karl der GrofJe in den europiiischen Literaturen des MittelsJters:
Konstruktion eines Mythos(Tubingen, Max Niemeyer Verlag, 2004), which offers an exceptional range
of material ; it should be noted that the Chapter on the Middle English Romances by Janct Cowan, 'Die
Mittelenglischen Romane von Karl dem Grof3en', pp.163-182, is a revised version of her The English
Charlemagne Romances', in Pratt (ed.), Roland and Charlemagne, pp. 149-168. Gabricle and Stuckey,
The Legend of Charlemagne, contains a series of studies looking at way the lege~~ of Charlemagne
was appropriated through specific texts or artefacts.
'.
9 Georges Durn&il, Flamen-Brahman (Paris: 1929); Georges Durnbil, Mitra-Varona (Presses
Universitaires de France, 1940); Georges Dumezil, Mythe et epopee, 3 vols (Paris, Gallimard, 1968-73).
The Durnezil approach has been used most recently in the major comparison of the two great
legendary kings. Charlemagne and Arthur, by Dominique Boutet, Charlemagne et Arthur ou Ie roi
im8ginaire (Paris, Champion, 1992); Boutet also draws upon the work ofJoel Grisward, Archeologie de
J'epopee medieval: structures trifonctioneJlt5 ec myths indo-europeens dans le cyde des Narbonnais
(Paris, Payot, 1981), preface by Georges Dumezil. For a brief summary and apologia of the approach of
Dumezil sce Marco V. Garcia Quintele, Dumt!zil: Une Introduction, Fnmch edition (Crozon, Editions
Armeline, 20(1).
10 Richard Hodges. TOMJ and Trade in the Age of OJarJemagne (London, Duckworth, 2000).
Alessandro Barbero, Charlemagne: Father of a Continent, trans. Allen Cameron (Berkeley, University
of California Press, 2000), pp. 272-98.
11 Charlemagne had three wives and a succession of mistresses producing both ICgitimate and
illegitimate children. For a list Charlemagne's actual offspring see McKitterick, CharJemagne, pp. 90,
92 and Barbero, Charlemagne, pp. 129-40; see Einhard's description Einhard. VJ'ta Karoli: Einhard's hIe
of Charlemagne, the Latin Text, section 18, edited, with introduction and notes by H.W. Garrod and
RB. Mowatt pp. 20-21; also cd. J.P. Migne, Patrilogia Latina, vol. 97; trans. Dutton p. 28, trans. Thorp, p.
73.
12 The Anglo-Nonnan Fierenbras, an abbreviated Fierabras text also describes Roland's companion
Oliver as a nephew of Charlemagne; in 1.247 Oliver is thc 'nevcu de Charles' and in 1. 533 he is 'cousin
de Roland'; Louis Brandin, ed., 'La Destruction de Rome et Fierabras: MS Egerton 3028, Musee
Britannique, Londres', Romania, 64 (1938), pp. 18-100.
13 For a brief summary of debates over date and authorship see R.P. Green, 'Modoin's Eclogues and the
Paderborn Epk', MittellateinischesJahrbuch,16,1981, pp. 42-53 (pp. 4243).
I" Trans. Dutton, p. 57; see Robert Morrisey. L'empereur
la barbe Oeurie: Charlemagne dans la
mythologie et J'histoire de France (Paris, Gallimard, 1997), English translation Catherine TIhanyi,
Charlemagne and France: A Thousand Yeat5 ofMythology (Indiana, University of Notre Dame Press,
20(3), p. 9.
a
Charlemagne 'Father of Europe' 73
Janet Nelson, 'Kingship and Empire', in Carolingian Culture: Emulation and Innovation, ed.
Rosamund McKitterick (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1994), pp. 52-87 (p. 59).
16 David Ganz, 'Einhard's Charlemagne: the characterisation of greatness', in Charlemagne: Empire and
sodety, edited by J. Storey (Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2(05), pp. 38-51 (p. 49).
17 Nelson, 'Did Charlemagne have a private life?' p. 18.
18 McKitterick, Charlemagne, pp. 75-88.
19 'Once his brother was dead Charlemagne was elected King with the consent of all the Franks'; eddt,
section 3, p. 7; trans. Thorp, p. 58.
2(J Para 7, ed Garrod, p.ll 'At long last this war, which had dragged on for so many years, came to an
end on conditions imposed by the king and accepted the Saxons. These last were to give up their devil
worship and the malpractices inherited from their forefathers; and then, once they had adopted the
sacraments of the Christian faith and religion they were united with the Franks and became one people
with them', trans. Thorp, p. 63; trans. Dutton, p. 21; see Morissey, Charlemagne and France, p. 24.
21 'When Emperor Charles of blessed memory, rightfully called the Great by all nations, died at a ripe
old age ...he left the whole of Europe flourishing', Nithardi Angilberti Filii, Caroli Magne Imperatoris
ex Bertha Filia Nepotis De dissentionibus Filiorum Ludoviv ill, (Ad annum usque; 843.), cd J.P. Migne,
Patrilogia Latina, vol.ll6, praefatio [CoL0045C1; English translation by Bernard Walter Scholz, with
Barbara Rogers, Carolingian Chrom'des: Royal Frankish Annals and Nithard's Histories (Ann Arbor,
University of Michigan Press, 1970), p. 129.
22 'But above all, I believe he will be admired for the tempered severity with which he subdued the
fierce and iron hearts of Franks and barbarians. Not even Roman might had been able to tame these
people but they dared do nothing in Charles's empire except what was in harmony with the public
welfare. He ruled happily as king for thirty-two years and held the helm of the empire with no less
success for fourteen years', idem, Liber 1 Col 004SD-0046B; trans. Scholz and Rogers, p.130.
23 'In the time of Charles the great of good memory, who died alritost thirty years ago, peace and
concord ruled everywhere because our people were treading the one proper way, the way of common
welfare, and this the way of God', trans. p.174; eddt.liber IV, Col. 0076C-0076D.
2-4 Matthew Gabriele, An Empire ofmemory: The Legend of Charlemagne, the Franks and Jerusalem
before the First Crusade (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2011), p. 15 comments 'one can almost hear
Nithard weeping ... wistfully thinking back two generations to the reign of his grandfather'; on
Nithard's agenda see Janet Nelson, Public and Ritual in Early medieval Europe (Lonond, Hambledon
Press, 1986), chapter 9, 'Public Histories and Private History in the works of Nithard', pp.19S-237.
2S Notkeri Balbuli Gesta Karoli Magni imperatoris, ed. Haefele, Monumenta Germaniae historica,
Scriptores rerum Gennanicum, new series, vol. 12, Bk 1 (Berlin, Weidmann, 1959); can be consulted at
http://www.dmgh.de/de/fs1/object/display/bsbOOOO0692JX1183.html?sortIndex=0100/03A060903AOOI20/03
AOI00/03AOO%3AOO&soIt=score&order=desc&context=notker&subSeriesTitle_str=>&hi",false&fulltext=n
otker; trans. Thorp, Two Lives ofCharlemagne.
26 Eddt, p. 40: 'All Europe, so to speak, laboured side by side at this bridge in orderly co-operation';
trans. p. 127.
Z7 'cum Francie Europeve proceribus sunt invitate', section 8, edcit, p. 60; trans. Thorp, p.l44.
28 'when I say the land of the Franks, I mean all the provinces north of the Alps ... 50, at that time,
because of the fame and glory of Charlemagne, the Gauls, the Aquitanians, the Aedui, the Spaniards,
the Germans and the Bavarians, all prided themselves on being paid a great compliment if they earned
the right to be called Swabian Franks'; eddt., p. 13, trans. Thorp, p. 103.
15
74 Ailes
Gabriele, An Empire ofMemorj, p. 23.
The textual community of the chansons de geste seems to have been a particularly wide one. Paula
Leverage, in a recent study, has largely rejected the traditional view of the itinerant jongleur taking his
tales around Europe, in favour of a reading public; Paula Leverage, Reception and Memory: A
Cognitive Approach to the Chansons de geste (Amsterdam, Rodopi, 2010). It is quite clear from
evidence of manuscript ownership, as discussed by Leverage, that these texts were known in courts and
ecclesiastical institutions, but this does not mean that the chansons de geste were not also disseminated
oraBy through perfonnance before a variety of audiences.
31 As long ago as 1865 Gaston Paris traced the absorption into his story of legends associated with other
monarchs named Charles, and even Clovis; Gaston Paris, Histoire Poetigue de Charlemagne (Paris,
1865; reprint 1905), pp. 438-446; one could argue the same for Louis, that the persona in the texts
brings together various kings, though in most texts he is presented in a negative way. By its very
contrast with the reputation ofhis father this actually enhances the myth of Charlemagne.
~ There has been considerable debate about the date of the manuscript, though the general consensus
is that it dates from some time in the twelfth century. There are numerous editions of this text. The
one used here is La Chanson de Roland: The Song of Roland. The French Corp1s, general editor
Joseph J. Duggan, 3 vols (Tumhout, Brepols, 2005), vol. I, part 1, The Oxford Version', ed. Ian Short.
Using the Duggan edition of the whole corpus makes it easier to compare different manuscript
versions of the narrative.
33 'Charles is an extraordinary man, who conquered Apulia and all Calabria. He crossed the sea to
reach England'; the translation is that of Gerard J. Brault, The Song ofRoland, edition and translation,
2 vols, (University Park and London, Pennsylvania University Press, 1978).
,. MS 'islonde'.
35 In these early texts it is not the identity of individuals which matters sa much as the number twelve,
evoking the twelve apostles. Paris, Histoire Poetigue de Charlemagne, p. 507, lists the peers in some
individual texts. Leon Gautier, Les Epopees ftanfllises: Etudes sur 1es origins et I'mstoke de 1a
literature, 3 vols (Paris: 1880), vol. 3, pp. 185..s6 lists sixteen different combinations and Gerard Brault,
'Adenet Ie Roi and the Coats of Anns of Charlemagne and His Twelve Peers in a Medieval Roll', in
'Gontez me tout:· Melanges de langue et literature offens aHerman Braet, edited by C. Bel, P. Dumont
and F. Willaert (Louvain, Peeters, 2006), pp. 115-28, points out that even within the OJanson de Roland
there is some variation (p.1l5).
56 Gui de Bourgogne figures among Charlemagne's men in Fierabrns(c.1l90-1202), AnseiS de Cartage
(1200-1240); Doon de 18 Roche (late 12l"c. - early 13lhc.); Jehan de Lanson (1212-1234); Renaut de
Montauban (early 13Ihc.); see also Paris, f[istoire poetique, p. 507.
37 McKitterick, Charlemagne, p. 134.
38 'There are knights here from seven kingdoms: I Seven kings serve you, protecting you from danger';
Aspremont: chanson de geste du XIle si(}cie, ed. Franc;ois Suard (Paris, Olampion, 2008); the
translation here is my own. There is a loose English translation by Michael Newth, The Song of
Aspremont: La Chanson d'Aspremont(NewYork, Garland,1989).
39 Robert Bartlett, The MaJcing ofEurope (London, Penguin, 1994), pp. 24-59.
40 Morissey, passim on 'Charlemagne's role in the emergence of modern France' (p. 11). On whether
Charlemagne should be considered French or German see K.F. Werner, Karl der grosse oder
Charlemagne?(Munich, 1995); on political implications of the Karl der grosse or Charlemagne debate
see Barbero, Charlemagne, pp.102-108. As Barbero states, 'Charlemagne was not, and could not have
29
30
Charlemagne 'Father of Europe' 75
been, either French or German, because neither of these two peoples had yet come into existence' (p.
103). By the twelfth century, when the earliest chansons de geste were being written, however, there
was an emerging state of France.
,n Isabel Di Vanna. 'Politicizing national literature: the scholarly debate around La Chanson de Roland
in the nineteenth century' Historical Research. 84 (2011), 109-134 (121 and 134); an additional irony
lies in the fact that the text being used for these nationalistic purposes was the version copied by an
Anglo-Norman scribe and now extant in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, under the shelf mark Digby 23.
42 Gabriele, An Empire ofMemory. pp. 20-23; Gabriele notes particularly the role of Abba of Fleury.
43 McKitterick, Charlemagne, p. 75.
044 McKitterick, Charlemagne, p. 16I.
45 Fierabras, ed. M. Le Person (Champion: Paris. 2003); see also Otinel, ed. F. Guessard and H.
Michelant, (Paris: APF, 1859). Aix has not entirely disappeared from the texts yet but the focus is on
Charlemagne at Paris.
46 Gonnond et Isembart ed., Alphonse Bayot (Paris, Champion, 1969), 11.374=75.
47 Vita Karoh; section 28. trans Dutton, pp. 33-34; trans Thorp p. 81.
On tensions between the two
.:
empires see Barbero, Charlemagne, pp. 94-101.
48 Le Pelerinage de Charlemagne, ed. and trans. Glyn S. Burgess (Edinburgh, Societe Rencesvals British
Branch Publications. 1998). The date of the PeIennage is difficult to establish with certainty, but see
edcit, introduction, p. xi for a summary of views. The tradition that Charlemagne had travelled to the
East was already established and recounted in the late eleventh-century Descriptio qualiter Karolus
Magnus davum et coronam Domini a Constantinopli acquisgran detuJerit.:, ed. F. Castets. Revue des
langues romanes, 56 (1892), 417-69; in early Latin accounts of Charlemagne's journey to the East see
Gabriele. An Empire ofMemory, pp. 40-70.
49 Boutet. Charlemagne et Arthur, p. 565.
50 On the debate over the tone see the summary in edcit, pp. xlii-xliv where the editor gives a very
balanced analysis; particularly Significant contributions to the discussion are Philip E. Bennett. 'Ie
Pelerinage de Charlemagne: Ie sens de l'aventure', in Essor et Fortune de la chanson de geste dans
l'Europe et J'On'ent latin: actes du XIe congres international de la societe Rencesvals, Padoue- Venis~
(Modena, Mucchi. 1984). pp. 475-87; Jules Horrent. Le PeJerinage de Charlmagne: essai d'explication
(Paris, Les belles Lettres, 1961); Anne Latowski, 'Charlemagne as Pilgrim? Requests for relics in the
Descrtiptio Qualiter and the Voyage de Charlemagne in Gabriele and Stuckey (eds) The Legend of
Charlemagne, pp.153-167, compares the texts and concludes that the chanson degesteis engaged in a
'meticulous dismantling of the discourse of Christian imperial relic exchange' (p.I24).
51 Boutet, Charlemagne et Arthur, p. 448.
52 'When the valiant King Charlemagne, who conquered so many lands and countries. went to
campaign in Spain, taking with him the noble band who were sold to Marsile by Ganelon to the
dishonour of France. and when he, Charlemagne, had returned to Saxony, where he did many great
deeds ... there was no bickering and quarrelling, at that time and before; then there was neither
Norman nor French, Poitevin nor Breton. Mansel nor Burgundian, Flemish nor English; there was no
malicious gossip nor insulting of one another; everyone came back with honour and all were called
Franks, whether brown or red. swarthy or white'. Ambroise, Estoire de la Guerre sainte. ed. and trans.
Marianne Ailes and Malcolm Barber. 2 vols (Woodbridge, The Boydell Press, 2003), trans. pp. 145-46;
Galatians 3: 28: There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female.
for you are all one in Christ Jesus. New International VelSion; see also Colossian 3:11: There there is
76 Ailes
no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is aU
and is in all',
'
S3 Marianne Ailes and Phillipa Hardman, 'How English are the English Charlemagne Romances?', in
Boundan'e$ in Medieval Romance, ed. Neil Cartidge (Woodbridge, Baydell & Brewer, 2008), pp, 43-55;
on the Middle English texts see Hardman infra.
~: